


Pictures In the Collage

by ocean gazer (ocean_gazer)



Category: Walker Texas Ranger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friendship, Missing Scenes, Pre-Slash If You Squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 08:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocean_gazer/pseuds/ocean%20gazer
Summary: Ten drabbles. Ten unseen moments in Alex and Sydney's friendship.





	Pictures In the Collage

**Author's Note:**

> You know the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Sometimes I like to subvert that idea and use a thousand words to paint ten different pictures. Set in an alternate universe in which Alex and Walker broke up after "Vision Quest." Alternate universe missing scenes for "Vision Quest," "Casa Diablo," "Home of the Brave," "White Buffalo," "The Avenging Angel," "Retribution," and "Child of Hope."

"Thanks." Alex took the mug Sydney handed her.

She leaned back on her friend's couch. Sydney plopped into the armchair.

Silence fell as they sipped their coffee.

Alex's thoughts raced. Gratitude that White Eagle was with Walker. Anger that Walker didn't want her there. Guilt about being angry.

And a looming dread that something other than blindness was haunting Walker.

She looked up, startled, when Sydney sat down beside her. Gentle fingers brushed tears off her cheek. She hadn't realized she was crying.

"C'mere," Sydney said.

She fell willingly into her friend's embrace, grateful to have someone to lean on.

****** 

Fear pulsed through Alex. Two cars blown up before her eyes, their driver and guard gunned down.... She screwed her eyes shut against the horrific images.

Now, here she was―being kidnapped _again_ ―in an SUV with her three travel companions and their mysterious captors, heading into unknown territory in a foreign country.

She almost couldn't breathe under the weight of that terror.

She felt Sydney's hand slip into hers and opened her eyes, startled. Her friend's expression was grim, but brown eyes sparked with raw determination and it bolstered her flagging courage.

She held tight to Sydney's hand. It anchored her.

****** 

Alex's sympathetic "I'm so, so sorry" hung in the air of their prison, but Sydney couldn't yet respond.

Partly due to the pain pulsing through her jaw from Ortega's backhand.

Partly due to the adrenaline still coursing through her.

When she'd come out of the bathroom to find Cruz on top of Alex, pinning the blonde to the bed as he forced a kiss on her, fury had flooded Sydney. She'd thought only of protecting her friend, consequences be damned.

Now, knowing what the consequences were, she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

She'd always come to Alex's rescue. Always.

****** 

Jimmy glanced around the helicopter. Walker and Gage were up front, focused on remembering how to fly it.

Alex and Sydney were in back with him, fast asleep.

The blonde leaned against the window, using it as a pillow. Sydney slumped sideways, using Alex as a pillow.

As he watched them, he saw the brunette fidget restlessly. Alex shifted slightly and reached out, still asleep, her fingers coming to rest on top of Sydney's hand.

Sydney stilled and snuggled closer at the contact. Alex sighed softly.

Jimmy turned and stared out the window, feeling like he'd intruded on something precious.

****** 

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sydney's tone was doubtful, and Alex patted her friend's arm reassuringly.

Gesturing at the people milling frantically around outside the collapsing building, she answered, "Comparatively speaking, it's nothing."

Sydney squatted beside her, next to the fire truck. "Walker said the explosion knocked you down a flight of stairs."

Alex shrugged. "I was lucky. A nasty cut, a possible minor concussion. Some people..." She trailed off with a grimace, pointing at the body bags on the pavement.

Sydney sobered, but said softly, "I'm glad you're safe. I was scared."

Alex smiled, warmed by her friend's worry.

****** 

The fight raged around her, but Sydney was so stunned she couldn't move.

Not from the gunshot wound sapping her strength. But from what had just happened.

Alex had held her up, supporting her during their never-ending hike across the reservation. When the drug runners caught up with them, her friend hadn't wavered in trying to protect both her and Fawn.

It didn't matter that Alex had failed. That the blonde had been backhanded and sent sprawling. That Walker and Trivette had miraculously shown up just then.

What mattered was that Alex was far braver than she'd ever noticed before.

****** 

"You didn't have to invite me over for dinner."

Alex turned away from the stove and smiled at Sydney. "I wanted to."

She watched her friend fiddle with the sling confining her wounded arm. Sydney glanced away, not meeting her eyes, clearly uncomfortable.

Alex shifted her attention back to the stew, focusing more than strictly necessary on stirring it, giving the brunette some space.

Eventually, Sydney sidled up beside her and confessed, "I just don't like being a burden."

Knowing the admission hadn't come easily, Alex laid a reassuring hand on Sydney's shoulder.

"You're not. That's what friends are for."

****** 

Jimmy rounded the corner of Walker's house and stopped short.

Sydney and Alex had disappeared a while ago from the informal wake his partner was holding for C.D.

He'd just found them.

They were on the porch swing. Sydney sat slightly sideways, knees drawn up to her chest, back curved up against the blonde's side. Alex leaned back in the swing, her arm draped across the seat back and the brunette's shoulder, her hand resting casually on Sydney's arm.

Both stared pensively into the distance, unaware of his presence.

The easy comfort between them and their unguarded expressions awed him.

****** 

"I'm glad it's over. I'm running on fumes and need a break from everything."

Alex nodded in response to Sydney's words as they left HQ. The task force had worked nonstop for months to bring down the Chairman, and they all were exhausted.

"Let me take you out to dinner," Alex suggested.

Glancing over, she saw Sydney's eyes light up. Then her friend's mouth curved in a frown. "What about the guys?"

Alex grinned conspiratorially. "They can fend for themselves. We deserve a girl's night out."

Sydney shot her a dazzling smile and threaded their arms together. Contentment flooded Alex.

****** 

Alex sat on a bench in the park, staring wistfully at the lake.

Though she was glad Max was reunited with his mom, it didn't make losing him any less painful.

Sydney sat beside her―the brunette's hand covering hers.

In silence, they watched the sun sink below the horizon, the sky slowly darken, the moon gradually brighten, the stars burst into pinpoints of light.

"If I haven't said it lately, I'm grateful for your friendship," Alex said softly. "Thanks for being here with me."

Sydney's fingers squeezed hers and her friend's voice was gentle. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be."


End file.
